Earth Retreat
by iparasitic
Summary: One-shots and mini-fics involving IV, BAMSR-Todd, Phineas and my OC Jasper. More fic's to come will involve any guests from the WWA or WDC that make appearances when inspiration strikes!


**Meeting the Family**:

"Are you sure they'll like me?"

"Positive! Phineas is friendly, once you get past the 'I hunt for fun' thing."

"I see. And what about Jasper?"

"Eh well...He's a bit off his rocker on occasion. I've truthfully no idea what he'll do."

That was comforting. He followed her through the threshold into the hiker's shack. It had been unoccupied and lost for quite some time, and a chance discovery in her childhood had made it part of her 'territory' – nobody else seemed ever to use it, according to her. While all three wraith no doubt would have preferred cosier quarters, Phineas and Jasper had worked surprisingly effective as a team to spruce it up enough to make a snug, lazy retreat when they visited Earth to see their worshipper. It'd been divided roughly into three; a cooking space, a lounging area and, somehow, a TV connected to a games console.

She peered around, warily peering up the stairs towards the trio of rooms, plus attic, wisely ignoring the dust along the banister.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet someone." '_Christ, I sound like I'm addressing my parents_'

Phineas was the first to respond, poking his head over the rail before almost jogging down the steps, before Jasper followed close behind a second later once he'd sensed the near Elder's presence. No matter how often she'd assured him that they'd accept him, Todd couldn't help but tuck away the flicker of worry behind his mental barriers. Jasper, complete with the black streaks of hair as she'd described, narrowed his eyes momentarily before his critical expression brightened and he extended his hand – the left one, to avoid offence in extending his feeding slit towards another.

"I'm Jas', and this stick in the mud-," he paused to give the Hunter a jesting punch to the arm

"-is Phineas. Pleasure, Commander."

He shook the offered hand, repeating the gesture with Phineas.

"I'm Todd." Well, that's what he always went by at any rate. He was, in fact, Todd's nearly identical pod-brother. Used when Todd had no wish to communicate with the Lanteans and when risks were high, he was the conveniently almost always ignored otherwise on the Hive. So when IV had actually paid him genuine attention, he'd been certainly surprised at how she preferred _him_ over his superior brother. While he'd been wary and mournful at first, she'd soon rallied his flagging spirit and made him smile. He watched her now out of the corner of his eye, spring-tense as she awaited the response from her other charges.

Phineas was her sparring partner, rescued from the routine boredom on Boris's Hive to occupy the Chill-Out along with Jasper; two birds with one stone, especially when it came to distracting the pyromaniac ex-assassin. The two were, safe to say, firm friends. She was more like a mother hen to them even now, sternly watching them. Finally Phineas's features broke into a light-hearted smile.

"It's a pleasure Commander. Come, sit."

"Always the host Phinny, you've been watching hotel programmes again haven't you?"

"Only because it took me an hour to figure out the finer art of using the remote"

He did so, lowering himself onto the soft leather couch as the Hunter made his way towards the kitchen area, flicking on the kettle. Clearly, every little home comfort had been thought of and provided. Jasper leant over the railings for a moment longer and then lazily retreated back upstairs. Todd let out a quiet sigh of relief, just loud enough for only IV to pick up on. She left the bottom of the stairs, settling beside him before finally tucking herself against his side. Uncertain what on earth to do at first, he finally reached out a metal-armoured hand and stroked his claws over her left cheek softly, following the contour of her jawline towards her chin. Her eyes lazily closed as she leant into it, nestling further into the warmth his clothing and body provided. Sharing a small smile between them that soon went at the sound of mugs clattering, Phineas then returned with the teas and slumped onto one of the beanbags nearby, blissfully unaware that he'd broken their first true tender moment.

The silence that followed was companionable, broken on occasion by a comment on whatever was on the television screen and the odd swear word or two from the scatty creature upstairs. Todd almost swore he smelt burning hair at one point, but IV, her head resting on his leg as she peered at the movie known as 'War of the Worlds', had assured him that it was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Finally the lights began to dim and one of the candles nearby flickered. He drained his cup, peering across to his new worshipper only to notice her fighting to keep her eyes open. Down they slid, only to be jerked open again with a quiet huff against his coat.

"You should rest."

"I'm not tir-," her petulant comment was broken by a yawn, followed by a surly huff.

"C'mon Four, you're not fooling either of us. Now either get to bed, or I'm sure Todd won't have any qualms about chasing you up those stairs with his belt lashing at your backside."

"Do you promise?"

Phineas almost snorted up the tea he'd just taken a gulp from, a bout of genuinely amused laughter coming from his lungs once he'd cleared them of drink. Todd felt a faint blush creeping over his cheekbones, which was thankfully unnoticeable when compared to the colour change humans went through. Eventually the younger seemed to recover, and he gestured for her to get upstairs.

Once all three were at the top of the stairs, Phineas departed behind a wooden door spray-painted with the words 'I 3 my stunner' in crude red aerosol. God help the Hive he'd been on when he'd been a teenager. Stifling another yawn behind a pale hand, she then gestured to the secured ladder that led up to the attic with a faint smile.

"Your room's up there"

"I... get my own?" While he was used to having his own pod, the fact they'd set aside a place of his own even before knowing what he was like spoke volumes of the amount of trust the 'family' were putting into him. She nodded.

"Of course."

With a quiet rumble, he gently reached a hand forwards before drawing her into a hug – carefully of course, he could already tell the height difference would have to be compromised over, not to mention the fact she seemed so damn fragile in the low-lit darkness. Mindful of his strength and wary of the possibility of rejection from his first worshipper, he allowed her to move to get comfortable in the parting gesture. She nestled into him, resting her head on his broad chest as her hands were placed onto his waist to return the contact. Nuzzling her hair for a moment, he was about to say something when the off-key warble of 'Can you feel the love tonight?' indicated that somebody was obviously still awake. That somebody being the black-clad figure complete with a burn scar peering out of his door plastered with heavy metal posters and questionable earth female pin-ups. With an inward groan of annoyance at the interruption and a low growl that he reserved for the mental network, he tightened the one-armed hug for a moment before letting go with an apologetic murmur concerning the disturbance and a whispered promise of repayment before climbing up the ladder.

The room was admittedly Spartan in design, but the sight couldn't have been more welcome. A simple sleigh-shaped bed was pushed into one corner, protected by the sloped ceiling of the roof, and filled with mismatching pillows and sheets. Books were piled up in the other corner, and a small piece of paper peeked out from between one. Curious, he paced over before plucking it out. As he read, his toothy smile grew.

'_Dear new occupant;_

_Here are a few tips to get you started inside the madhouse._

_Don't diss Phineas's cooking, he hates it_

_Handcuff twister is fun_

_For the love of the pesky ancients, don't disturb Jasper (me) during one of his experiments_

_Last but not least, take care of IV. Be nice or we'll get physical. Nastily_.'

While an older Commander might have taken the informal nature of the requests as a joke or insult, the light-hearted nature of the younger generation he was sharing board with made it all the more entertaining. Stripping down, he stretched out between the cotton and furs, stroking a clawed hand slowly over the pillows as the lights dimmed at his telepathic command. Never did he think that he'd get a worshipper, much less one who was already effective at tolerating and even accepting wraith behaviour patterns – she had shown fear, yes, but also trust and some level of understanding. Finally closing his eyes, he inwardly thanked for the first time that he didn't have as much in his life to worry about as his older pod-brother – not to mention so many worshippers. A smile appeared on his lips, and sleep welcomed him.


End file.
